Robert Henry Newell

Robert Henry Newell
Robert Henry Newell, circa 1864
Born	December 13, 1836(1836-12-13) New York City
Died	July 1901 (aged 64) Brooklyn, New York
Occupation	Writer
Spouse	Adah Isaacs Menken (from 1862-65)
Parents	Robert Newell (1803-54) and Anne (Lawrence) Newell[1]

Robert Henry Newell (December 13, 1836– July 1901) was a popular 19th century American humorist.

During the U.S. Civil War, Newell wrote a series of satirical articles using the pseudonym Orpheus C. Kerr, commenting on the war and contemporary society. His articles appeared weekly in the New York Sunday Mercury, where he was the literary editor until 1862, and were published in a series of books. Among other newspapers he worked at, from 1869-74 he wrote for the New York World.^[2] From ~1862-65, he was married to famous actress Adah Isaacs Menken.^[3]

The name "Orpheus C. Kerr" was a play on the term "office seeker". At the time, political offices were seen as plums, involving relatively little work and regular pay, and were used by political parties as rewards for faithful party workers.

During the war, The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers was widely read and Newell enjoyed great popularity.^[4] He was one of the favorite humorists of Abraham Lincoln. When General Montgomery C. Meigs admitted that he had never heard of Orpheus C. Kerr or his Papers, Lincoln responded, “anyone who has not read them is a heathen.”^[5][6][7][8]

Selected bibliography

• The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers (1862) (Letters 1-52)
• The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers (Volume II)(1863) (Letters 53-79)
• The Palace Beautiful and Other Poems (1864)
• The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers (Volume III)(1865) (Letters 80-108)
• Avery Glibun, or Between Two Fires (1867)
• Smoked Glass (1868)
• The Cloven Foot (1870) (a parody of The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens)
• Versatilities (poems) (1871)
• The Walking Doll; or the Asters and Disasters of Society (1872)
• Studies in Stanzas (1882)
• There was once a Man (1884)

References

1. ^ The National cyclopaedia of American biography, Vol. 11, p. 528 (1901)
2. ^ (13 July 1901) Robert H. Newell Dead, The New York Times, Retrieved November 5, 2010
3. ^ (14 July 1901). Robert H. Newell's Life Romance, The New York Times, Retrieved November 29, 2010
4. ^ (20 July 1901). Derby, George. Orpheus C. Kerr: His Recent Death in Brooklyn and the True Facts in his Career, The New York Times, Retrieved November 5, 2010
5. ^ Thomas, Benjamin P. “Lincoln’s Humor: An Analysis,” 3 Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association (1981).
6. ^ The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature, p.817-18 (2003) (ISBN 0826415172)
7. ^ Scott E. Casper, Joanne D. Chaison, and Jeffrey D. Groves, Perspectives on American Book History: Artifacts and Commentary, Univ of Massachusetts Press, 2002 (ISBN 1558493174)
8. ^ THE ORPHEUS C. KERR PAPERS: The Humor of the War-Dashes at Military Life with a Free Pencil, The Missouri Republican, August 20, 1862.

External links

• Works by Robert Henry Newell at Project Gutenberg
• The Orpheus C. Kerr papers (1862), American Libraries Internet Archive
• The Palance Beautiful and Other Poems (1864) (full text)

Persondata
Name	Newell, Robert Henry
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1836-12-13
Place of birth	New York City
Date of death	1901
Place of death	Brooklyn, New York